The 7th and final event of the men's heptathlon

The fact that Roman Sebrle had a rather safe lead after
six events didn't keep the Czech athlete from putting on a fine display of running in the
1000 metres.

The Sydney silver medalist posted the second-fastest time
of his career, a 2:37.86, to win both the final event as well as the two-day struggle with
6420 points.

It represented the best performance by any heptathlete
during the current season, but more tellingly, it was the third-best performance of
all-time, being surpassed only by the 6424 of Tomás Dvorák in winning last year's
European championships, and the current world record of 6476 established by Dan O'Brien in
winning the 1993 world indoor title.

The main focus in this final event involved the battle
between Iceland's Jon Arnar Magnusson and Lev Lobodin of Russia for the silver medal.

Going into the event, Magnusson's lead over Lobodin was
46 points, which translated into slightly more than four seconds in the kilometer race.

As the runners moved out from the start, Magnusson held
the last position, immediately behind Lobodin. For Magnusson, the final point totals were
immaterial: his only goal was to keep Lobodin in check, a task he accomplished without
problem.

The tactic pushed Lobodin to a personal best of 2:43.59
for a final total of 6202, but the Russian fell short of Magnusson's silver-medal
performance of 6233, resulting from a 2:44.99 kilometer.

The US champion, Stephen Moore, finished the 1000 metres
in second place behind Sebrle with 2:42.35, and his total of 6132 (a personal best) earned
him fourth place ahead of the Sydney decathlon champion, Erki Nool, who completed the
seven events with 6074.